Custard powder in Poland: how to make custard and fruit custard

Custard powder is a powder for making custard, the British pouring sauce cooked with milk. It is mostly cornflour with flavouring and colouring, so it works like Polish "budyń" powder, and Polish shops call it "krem budyniowy" or simply custard. You use it for a warm sauce over cakes and fruit, and in India and Pakistan for the popular dessert fruit custard.

What custard is

Traditional custard is made from milk or cream, egg yolks and sugar, cooked slowly until it thickens. It is a thick sauce that still pours, a close relative of French crème anglaise.

Custard powder was created in 19th-century England as a simpler, egg-free version. The best-known brand is Bird's. The yellow colour and vanilla taste come from colouring and flavouring, the thickness from cornflour. The powder is easy to use, and unlike custard made with yolks, it does not curdle when it cooks.

Custard powder and Polish budyń

If you cannot find custard powder, look at the Polish dessert aisle. Custard powder and Polish budyń work the same way: starch cooked in milk thickens them. The differences are in the proportions and how you serve them.

• Custard is usually made thinner and served warm as a sauce, poured over cake, crumble or pudding.
• Budyń is made thicker and eaten on its own as a dessert.

You can make a thick, budyń-style cream from custard powder by using more powder for the same amount of milk. The other way round, a vanilla budyń ("budyń waniliowy") made with more milk gives a sauce close to custard.

How to make custard from powder

Proportions differ between brands, so always check the pack. A typical recipe for a sauce:

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons custard powder,
• 1 to 2 tablespoons sugar,
• about half a litre of milk.

Method:

1. In a bowl, mix the custard powder and sugar with a few tablespoons of cold milk to a smooth paste.
2. Heat the rest of the milk in a pan until almost boiling.
3. Pour the hot milk onto the paste, stirring all the time.
4. Pour everything back into the pan and cook over low heat, stirring, until the custard thickens. This usually takes 1 to 2 minutes.

Serve the custard warm. If it is going to cool, cover it with cling film pressed onto the surface so that no skin forms.

Recipe: fruit custard

Fruit custard is chilled custard with fruit. In India and Pakistan it is served at parties, during Ramadan and on holidays.

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 3 tablespoons custard powder,
• 3 to 4 tablespoons sugar,
• 750 ml milk,
• 2 cups diced fruit: banana, apple, grapes, mango, pomegranate.

Method:

1. Make a thick custard as above.
2. Let it cool completely, then chill it in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
3. Just before serving, stir in the fruit. Add the banana and apple last so they do not turn brown.

Popular extras are diced jelly, chopped nuts and a little cardamom.

Custard powder flavours

Besides classic vanilla custard there are flavoured versions, for example mango, banana and strawberry. Mango custard powder is a good match for fruit custard.

Where to buy custard powder in Poland

At Little India you can buy Bird's custard powder 600 g and mango custard powder Shan. Other dessert powders are in the puddings category. Little India has shops in Warsaw, Kraków, Wrocław and Gdańsk and ships orders across Poland.

Custard is thickened with cornflour. Read how to find it on Polish shelves in corn starch in Poland.